5.21.2010

88-year-old laotian man gets his passport back

An 88-year-old Laotian man, who sued U.S. immigration officials to return his passport, finally got it back this week. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had kept the Laotian passport since the man applied for political asylum in April 2008: Elderly Laotian's wish granted: He's going home. And all the guy wanted to do was go home:

He said the officer described being flooded with interview requests since an article about the case appeared Tuesday in The Chronicle.

"It really was the public pressure from the media," Seeger said. He said he picked up the passport Wednesday and will return it to his client, who will renew it and probably return to Laos within two months.

Seeger said the agency had not explained why it held the passport for two years or why it had decided to return the document now.

Agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said only that, "based upon a further review of the case, we believe this is the appropriate course of action."

The Laotian man filed suit last week in federal court in San Francisco as John Doe Xiong to conceal his identity from the Laotian government that once held him prisoner. Xiong is his true last name.

All Xiong ever wanted was to get his passport back so he could go home to be with his wife and children. They guys is 88-years-old! He just wants to go to Laos, where he's says he's going "sit and wait." For death, that is. The old man will be going home to die in peace.